If you are going to read one book to change your diet and your life, “The Kitchen Counter Cooking School” is it. The second book by Le Cordon Bleu graduate Kathleen Flinn starts with her stalking a woman in the grocery store, but it ends better than you’d expect. Flinn is struck by the number of boxes and cans the woman is buying — and the grocery bill she’s racking up — and spends the afternoon leading her through the store, explaining how she can save cash by buying a whole chicken, a pot roast and vegetables instead of ready-to-eat items.

The chance encounter leads to Flinn’s offer on a local radio show to teach cooking to nine volunteers who are willing to open their kitchens and psyches to her inspection. The women range in age from their 20s to early 60s. Some are well-off financially, others are not. One woman who had a good job lost it to the recession and is on food stamps. One needs to watch her sodium. Others are watching their weight. None of them can cook a lick.